The AP reports: On the night Miami retired Alonzo Mourning’s number, Orlando’s big man wrecked the party. Dwight Howard scored 22 points and grabbed 18 rebounds, passing Wilt Chamberlain as the youngest NBA player to reach the 5,000-board mark, and the Magic kept their grip on the No. 2 spot in the Eastern Conference by beating the Heat 101-95 on Monday night. Rashard Lewis scored 21 points, including the go-ahead 3-pointer with 1:32 remaining for Orlando (55-18), which stayed five games behind Cleveland and percentage points ahead of defending champion Boston in the East race… Dwyane Wade scored 13 of his 42 points in the fourth quarter for the Heat (39-35), whose edge over Philadelphia for the East’s No. 5 seed was trimmed to one game, despite the lift that came from seeing Mourning’s jersey being retired… Backup point guard Luther Head broke his left hand during the game and will miss four to six weeks, meaning there likely will be no way he’s available for Miami’s first-round playoff series.
Category: Orlando Magic Blog
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Magic beat Bucks to keep pace for East’s 2nd seed
The AP reports: The Orlando Magic are showing few signs of slowing down. Rashard Lewis scored 19 points, Hedo Turkoglu added 18 and the surging Magic beat the Milwaukee Bucks 110-94 on Friday night. Dwight Howard added 18 points and eight rebounds in another strong defensive effort for Orlando, which held Milwaukee to 39.1 percent shooting. The Magic (54-18) have won five straight and 12 of their last 14 to stay percentage points ahead of Boston for the Eastern Conference’s second seed. “We’re just trying to find that rhythm that you can stay in,” Magic point guard Rafer Alston said. “It’s all about finding that groove going into the playoffs.”
NBA rule change on too many players on court
The NBA Board of Governors voted to approve a playing rules change in regards to “too many players on the court”, which will take effect beginning Friday, March 27.
Under the playing rules change, when a “too many players on the court” violation is called, a technical foul will be assessed against the offending team and the non-offending team will have the option of either accepting or nullifying the game action that occurred during the violation.
Option 1 — Accept Game Action
The non-offending team can opt to ACCEPT all play that occurred during the violation, including any points scored, with no adjustment of the game clock.
Option 2 — Nullify Game Action
The non-offending team can opt to NULLIFY all play that occurred during the violation, other than any acts of unsportsmanlike conduct or flagrant fouls or any points scored from free throws as a result of such actions.
Under this option, following the technical foul, the game clock would be reset to the time when the ball was put into play with too many players on the court and, depending on how the ball was originally put into play, play would resume in accordance with the following:
1) If the original play commenced with a throw-in, then the ball would be returned to the original throw-in spot and play commenced with a throw-in.
2) If the original play commenced with a missed free-throw attempt where the ball remained in play, then play would be commenced with a jump ball held at center court between any two players who were on the floor at the time play was suspended due to the violation.
3) If the original play commenced with a jump ball, then play would be commenced with a jump ball held at the original jump-ball spot between the same two players who participated in the original jump ball.
Magic bounce Celtics from 2nd in East
The AP reports: Dwight Howard blocked a potential go-ahead layup by Paul Pierce with 3.8 seconds left, and the Orlando Magic clinched their second straight Southeast Division title with an 84-82 win over the Celtics on Wednesday night. Howard had 24 points and 21 rebounds as the Magic (53-18) bumped Boston (54-19) by percentage points for second in the Eastern Conference. Orlando remains five games back of Cleveland for the conference lead with 11 games left. The Magic took the division title with Atlanta’s loss to San Antonio… Rashard Lewis had 21 points, and Hedo Turkoglu added 13 points for the Magic, who nearly blew a 16-point lead before holding on for their fourth straight win and 11th in their last 13 games. The Magic were held to just 14 points in the final period.
Turkoglu, Magic rally past Knicks, win 106-102
The AP reports: Dwight Howard had 29 points and 14 rebounds, Hedo Turkoglu led a fourth-quarter rally, and the Magic tuned up for a showdown with Boston by beating the New York Knicks 106-102 on Monday night. Turkoglu scored 12 of his 16 points in the final period for the Magic, who lowered their magic number to one to clinch their second straight Southeast Division title… Courtney Lee scored 22 points on some clutch free throws shooting for the Magic, who have won three in a row, the last two coming in a sweep of a home-and-home series with the Knicks. Nate Robinson scored 19 on just 6-of-23 shooting for New York, which dropped its fifth straight in a late-season collapse after entertaining hopes of a playoff spot a week ago.
Magic re-sign Adonal Foyle
The Orlando Magic have re-signed free agent center Adonal Foyle, General Manager Otis Smith announced today. Per team policy, terms of the deal are not disclosed.
Foyle played in five games this season with the Magic, averaging 1.2 ppg. and 2.2 rpg. in 5.8 minpg., before being traded to Memphis as part of the three-team deal that sent Rafer Alston to Orlando on Feb. 19. He also played in one game with the Grizzlies and did not score in three minutes. Foyle was waived by Memphis on Mar. 1.
Originally selected by Golden State in the first round (eighth overall) of the 1997 NBA Draft, Foyle (6’10”, 270, 3/9/75) has appeared in 729 regular season games during his 11-year NBA career with Golden State, Orlando and Memphis, averaging 4.1 ppg., 4.7 rpg. and 1.63 blkpg. in 17.9 minpg. Foyle is Golden State’s all-time franchise leader in blocked shots with 1,140.
InsideHoops.com editor says: Foyle is basically good for swinging his arms at the basketball while others attempt to shoot it, and swinging his arms at the basketball after someone misses a shot in the hope of grabbing it, and not a heck of a lot more than that.
Lewis’ 27 points leads Magic over Knicks 110-103
The AP reports: Rashard Lewis scored 27 points, Hedo Turkoglu added 20 and the surging Orlando Magic nearly blew a 15-point lead before holding off the New York Knicks 110-103 on Saturday night. The win kept Orlando (51-18) a game behind Boston—but tied in the loss column—for the Eastern Conference’s second-best record behind Cleveland… Rafer Alston had 17 points, and Dwight Howard battled foul trouble to score 15 for the Magic, who have won nine of their last 11 games. Quentin Richardson scored 33 points, and Nate Robinson added 27 for New York (28-41), which has lost four straight games and was dealt another crushing blow to its already grim playoff hopes.
Howard nears triple-double, leads Magic past Bucks
The AP reports: Playing back-to-back road games and coming off a tough loss, the Orlando Magic could have fallen into a trap against a Milwaukee team that had just tripped up another Eastern Conference contender. Instead, Dwight Howard dominated in the first quarter and the Magic never really let the Bucks back into the game, cruising to a 106-80 victory Wednesday night… Orlando was coming off a deflating 97-93 loss at Cleveland, a game in which Howard scored only 13 points. That turned around right away Wednesday, as Howard scored 18 points in the first quarter on his way to 28 for the game. He added 12 rebounds, and had seven assists, falling three shy of a triple-double… Charlie Villanueva had 17 points for the Bucks, who are desperately trying to earn the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference and were coming off a home victory over Boston.
LeBron scores 43, Cavaliers edge Magic 97-93
The AP reports: LeBron James finished with 43 points, including a long 3-pointer with 47.4 seconds left and two clutch free throws with 8.7 seconds to go, as Cleveland avoided just its second loss at home with a 97-93 win over Orlando on Tuesday night… James, who scored 15 in the fourth, added 12 rebounds, eight assists and four steals. Mo Williams added 21 points for Cleveland, which held the Magic to 18 points in the fourth quarter and won its sixth straight. The Cavs are a league-best 14-2 since the All-Star break. Howard had 13 points, 15 rebounds and six blocks for the Magic. But Orlando’s big man attempted just eight shots, none in the fourth quarter as the Magic chose to attack from outside.
Howard’s 28, 20 lead Magic over weary Jazz
The AP reports: Dwight Howard had 28 points and 20 rebounds, leading the Orlando Magic to their third straight victory, 105-87 victory over the weary Jazz on Sunday night… Carlos Boozer had 23 points and 13 rebounds for the Jazz, coming off a triple-overtime loss in Miami a day earlier. The Magic got 16 points from point guard Rafer Alston and 14 from backup point guard Anthony Johnson… Utah point guard Deron Williams, who finished with 11 points and nine assists, left the game in obvious pain with 5:05 remaining in the second quarter after banging knees with Howard. He returned in the second half but struggled to spark the Jazz.